This page gives you ready-to-use study questions for 2 Chronicles 6, with a leader’s answer or discussion note for each one. It works for a small group, a Sunday class, or personal study. You can move straight into the questions without preparing a separate summary of the chapter.
2 Chronicles 6 at a Glance
Solomon has just finished building the temple in Jerusalem. In verses 1-11 he explains to the assembly why the house was built and recalls God’s promise to his father David. He then stands before the altar, kneels on a bronze platform, and spreads out his hands in a long prayer (verses 12-40).
The prayer moves through a series of situations: a wronged person coming to the altar, a people defeated in battle, drought, famine and plague, a foreigner who comes to pray, and a people taken into exile who turn back to God. Each time Solomon asks God to hear from heaven and act. The chapter closes in verses 41-42 with a request that God rise into his resting place and remember his faithfulness to David.
Observation Questions
Use these questions first, before anyone offers an interpretation. Ask the group to point to the words on the page, and invite each person to read a verse or two aloud before answering. Keep the focus on what the text says.
2 Chronicles 6:14
And he said, “The LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth; you who keep covenant and loving kindness with your servants who walk before you with all their heart…
(WEB)
Read this verse at the start to frame the prayer. Solomon praises God as the one who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who walk before him with all their heart. It sets the tone for everything that follows.
2 Chronicles 6:18
“But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain you; how much less this house which I have built!
(WEB)
This verse holds the central tension of the chapter: God cannot be contained by heaven, yet he chooses to dwell with his people. Reading it aloud helps the group feel the wonder of God’s nearness and transcendence together.
2 Chronicles 6:21
Listen to the petitions of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Yes, hear from your dwelling place, even from heaven; and when you hear, forgive.
(WEB)
Solomon asks God to hear and to forgive from his dwelling place. Reading this verse slowly makes the pattern of the whole prayer clear, and it leads naturally into a discussion of repentance.
2 Chronicles 6:30
Then hear from heaven your dwelling place and forgive, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know (for you, even you only, know the hearts of the children of men)
(WEB)
Here Solomon asks God to render to each person according to his ways, because God alone knows the human heart. This verse is a good place to talk about how God sees what is hidden and why that matters for honest prayer.
2 Chronicles 6:38-39
38 If they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have carried them captive, and pray toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, and the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name; 39 then hear from heaven, even from your dwelling place, their prayer and their petitions, and maintain their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you.
(WEB)
These verses describe the return of a people in exile who turn back with all their heart and pray toward the chosen land and city. They are a strong passage for ending a session on hope and restoration.
Memory Verse for 2 Chronicles 6
A Closing Prayer for the Group
Father, we come to you as Solomon came to the altar, with open hands and hearts that need your mercy. Thank you that you hear us even when our prayers are imperfect and our hearts are divided. Teach us to turn back to you with all our heart, to confess what we have done wrong, and to trust your forgiveness. Remember the people we have named tonight, and draw near to those who feel far from you. Help us to pray for one another honestly and to walk in your ways this week. Let your name be honored among us and among all the peoples you love. Amen.
